» Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:48 am http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=974036
Open Cities is a comprehensive project that aims to bring back at least part of the feel of Morrowind - specifically with how most of the cities were a natural part of the world and you could just walk in without loading screens. The added immersion and realism goes a long way, probably a lot more than you might think. Ever wanted to ride your horse into the center of Cheydinhal? Well now you can. Need to get some help from the city guards to vanquish a foe? Run toward the gates and the guards will do their duty while you can seek safety within the walls. The town guards make for some very interesting interactions this way.
The only cities not covered by this project are Kvatch and the Imperial City's central districts. Kvatch has too much main quest material setup in very specific ways to mess with it, and the Imperial City is simply too large and unwieldy to properly open up.
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16360
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=4222
http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=109
Translated Versions:
http://www.confrerie-des-traducteurs.fr/site/mods/cyrodiil/villes_et_villages/cites_ouvertes.php - Version 3.3.2
If you like what you see, please rate/vote!
http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/271/opencitiescellgridgk2.jpg showing exactly which cells the Open Cities files affect.
Highly recommended complimentary mod: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=984109 - This is the evolution of Texian's Window Lighting System and is fully compatible with Open Cities.
To go with that, and provide LOD for all the new goodies, I also recommend: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=983713. Just be aware that there's a bit of a performance hit in activating all the extra LOD that Open Cities will provide that's directly proportional to the power of your PC, and how many other mods you have installed.
Open Cities: Leyawiin Reborn
For those who are looking for alternative layouts to some cities, you can have that too. Specifically in Leyawiin, where the city has been rebuilt to follow the Bethesda concept art for the city. The new layout is much more realistic and is a completely new experience that simply has to be seen to be fully appreciated. The city can now properly claim here title as Queen of the Niben.
All due credit must go to Texian and Godhugh on this layout, all I did was clean it up and get it ready for a full release.
Screenshots
The http://www.elderscrolls.com/images/art/ob_concept/ob_concept03B.jpg which inspired this city's layout.
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/16360-1-1215564686.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/16360-2-1215564686.jpg Who put that clock tower there?
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/16360-1-1215564958.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/16360-3-1215564686.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/images/16360-4-1215564687.jpg
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6574/lrcastleareael2.jpg Hey, who said you could park that horse here!
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5033/lrswitchbackroadda7.jpg My, that's quite a height!
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/8058/lrdistantshotcenterko0.jpg It's just far enough away to demonstrate the new LOD land mesh is working, otherwise that bridge would be floating over dead space. The water reflections also seem to be doing great.
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/9376/lrdistantshoteastsidehp9.jpg, looking toward the eastern part of the city.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4228/lrdistantshotstablesngadf8.jpg toward the stables and the northwest gate.
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7705/lrstablelookingatngatexn4.jpg looking up toward the northwest gate.
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6927/lrngatelookingsouthec4.jpg, looking south into the city.
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/8061/lrwestfromswgateoq7.jpg, from just inside the southwest gate.
http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/368/lrsesidestairwayyn7.jpg, from the southwest part of the city.
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8186/lrpathtodocksmq1.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4956/lrdockslookingsouthea7.jpg
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5264/lreastgroundleveljc4.jpg
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/114/lrlighthousebridgecastliu5.jpg
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6384/lrlighthousepathmm6.jpg
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/5549/lrneviewlighthousezx9.jpg
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/5852/lrnwviewlighthouseiq0.jpg
http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/7374/lrtopalbayviewlighthousnd3.jpg
Open Cities: New Sheoth
"Cat's out of the bag! Why do people put cats in bags? Cats hate bags." - Lord Sheogorath
Continuing in the tradition, if it could be called that, of Open Cities, I bring you Open Cities: New Sheoth. The first, last, best, and worst, Open Cities mod for the Shivering Isles. Madness has never been so much fun!
The twin cities of Bliss and Crucible have been transferred from their own individual worldspaces out into the SEWorld worldspace, which is SI's equivalent of being in the Tamriel worldspace. Though it may seem somewhat silly given the small size of both cities, the results are still pretty good. Everything blends in with the immediate surroundings of the cities so if you didn't know any better.....
As with other Open Cities mods I feel this adds greater realism to the cities by not having to transition from one outdoor worldspace into another. It may seem silly but give it a shot. It really does enhance the gameplay by quite a bit.
I would like to give a big thank you shout out to Sjors_Boomscors, without him this project would have died on the table a long time ago without every really having a chance. It was because of his help in getting some critical model work done that I was able to proceed even after he moved on to other things.
The New Sheoth module obviously requires Shivering Isles.
The Quick Install
Prerequisites: Latest official Oblivion patch 1.2.0.406. Shivering Isles patch 1.2.0.416 required for the New Sheoth module.
Ok, for those of you who want to just jump right in, Open Cities is now packaged as a BAIN archive for easy setup. That was probably somewhat obvious though
00 Core - All files here are required.
01 Leyawiin Reborn Resources - These files are required if you want to install Leyawiin Reborn.
For modular installs:
10 Individual Cities - Install the cities you want opened from here.
11 Bravil - A choice to make. Do you want the standard vanilla Bravil or do you want the Bravil Blood & Mud layout? (requires Blood & Mud be installed first)
12 Leyawiin - Another choice. Standard Leyawiin or the Leyawiin Reborn layout?
For merged installs:
15 Full Merged - Pick *ONE* of these ESPs to install, DO NOT install them all, and if you want every city opened, make sure you are not installing anything from 10, 11, or 12.
For either install:
20 Road Record - Choose one road record file. If you installed from 15, this isn't necessary. The filenames should make their intended use obvious.
30 Outer Districts - If you want the Prison and Arcane University opened as well, install this folder's contents.
40 Bartholm - If you have J.Sera's Bartholm, you can elect to have the city opened with this.
50 New Sheoth - If you have Shivering Isles installed, you can elect to have Bliss and Crucible opened this way.
Once installed, if you chose a file from 20, rebuild your Bashed Patch and import the road record file using "Import Roads". Saves having to eat an activation slot for it. Then just activate the rest of the files and you're off and running.
I may yet decide to reinstate OMOD support down the road, but not right now as I'm really sick of fighting with the thing.
You should read through the rest of this file for compatibility notes with other mods and especially if using Anvil Bay Expansion.
Performance and FPS
Rumors continue to persist about Open Cities being an FPS killer. In and of itself, Open Cities will not represent a significant hit to your gaming performance. If you are playing the stock game, with stock graphics, go run around near the Imperial City, then around Chorrol. Measure the performance you get. Add Open Cities, and perform the same test again. The Imperial City will remain unchanged, and your trip around Chorrol will see a minimal impact of 3-5 frames. In other words, if your system is low end, it'll still feel low end after installing Open Cities. If you have a midrange to high end system, installing Open Cities will not be a noticeable drain on your resources.
The problem most people have is that they're not playing in a stock configuration. They load up a bunch of graphical enchancers ( guilty as charged! ) and a ton of graphically heavy mods, all at the same time. So suddenly trips around the Imperial City are a bit sluggish, and that trip around Chorrol is bogging things down. In the process of adding mods, they not only activated huge memory sinks like QTP3, but also activated a large set of LOD mods, FCOM, 18 quest mods, a lighting overhaul, a weather overhaul, and higher quality sound files. So when the game slows down, it takes all of two seconds of "OC is an FPS killer" and people believe it, because, by coincidence, removing it results in what they think is smoother play. However, removing any one of the other elements would have done the same. Bog the system down with enough stuff, it will buckle. There are tradeoffs to be had. I am aware of how this may sound, but in the grand scheme of things, Open Cities is not the FPS killer everyone says it is. Do yourself a favor and be objective enough to try it first and see for yourself before believing some random forum poster. The vast majority of the negative attention was from 2006. We're entering 2009. The mod has been trimmed and polished a lot since then. Systems have also evolved considerably at the same time.
That said, there may be some additional load placed on your game if you install the new Outer Districts module. Sjors has provided me with some updated collision optimized meshes to use for the large walls and towers that enclose the two districts. Without them, there was significant lag while in the Arcane University and slight lag while in the Prison. After the optimized meshes were installed and tested, the lag is all but gone and it's about as smooth for me as it is to be in the closed versions of these districts. That does not mean however that your experience will be the same. These districts are made up of large high detail meshes. A low end machine struggling with the Imperial City in general is going to have trouble here as well. Midrange PCs may see some significant additional lag. Higher end PCs should notice little if any difference, but this will depend greatly on both your CPU and GPU. Visible images tax the GPU. Collision meshes tax the CPU due to the Havok physics involved. Be prepared for some tradeoffs. The Imperial City has always been and will likely continue to be a resource hog whether or not you fling them open to the world.
Modularization
Open Cities is entirely modular. If all you want is Anvil, then Anvil it is. If you want Chorrol, then you can have that too. Want three cities from this pack and two more from another city overhaul? That's possible as well. Have one of those not so strong systems that the Outer Districts module brings to its knees? Then simply don't activate that module. Since quests and AI have been sufficiently isolated by Bethesda, you can mix and mach any combination of city mods you want so long as you don't install a duplicate.
Note on Anvil and Anvil Bay Expansion
Permission has been granted by jfunderb to include the contents of Anvil Bay Expansion as part of Open Cities Anvil. If you are currently using the Anvil Bay Expansion mod, you will need to clear out any player owned assets from any interior cells in the bay area before installing Open Cities. If you do not heed this warning and for some reason lose ownership of half your stuff, I'll know you didn't bother to read this readme file and will simply ask you to do so.
Once you've cleared your stuff out of the interiors, make sure you're not standing on the exterior docks ( unless you like swimmming ), save your game, and do a clean uninstall of the Anvil Bay Expansion files. Also remove any Open Cities patches that cover ABE, they will no longer be needed. If you're using the anvilbay+ul.esp file you can get rid of that as well since there will no longer be a need to patch anything for compatibility with UL:Beaches of Cyrodiil. Nice bonus, yes? Get rid of up to 5 ESP files and maintain compatibility at the same time.
Detailed installation instructions for manual installs as well as compatibility information are contained in the readme file. Please make sure you are aware of any issues mentioned in there, especially when upgrading from an older version of Open Cities. Recommendations on load ordering can also be found there, but for the most part BOSS gets it right now. Also, in the unlikely event you want to uninstall, the readme covers the proper procedure for doing that as well. There's also a very extensive revision history which some folks might actually find interesting, who knows. In short, do not ignore the readme file. It has loads of very important information!
Known Issues
When starting a new game if you are using "Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp" you need to disable this until you are able to save and then you can reactivate it. This is due to a bug in how the UOMP handles reverting some changes for previous Open Cities compatibility scripts that don't need to be run during chargen.
Troubleshooting Problems
If you have a problem with an Open Cities mod and wish to report it, I'd appreciate as much information as possible, preferably in the form of a screenshot with console data showing if it's something that can be screened. The FormID of the affected object would help greatly to narrow down any problems that might result. Post this information along with your load order. Reports with less than detailed information may result in delays in getting it fixed, or result in being ignored entirely. It helps everyone to provide details. I am especially interested in verifiable conflicts, as I wish for Open Cities to be as conflict-free as is humanly possible given the circumstances. If the situation requires a patch, I can only work something out if I know what to look for.
Locations of AI Doors
Anvil: Along the city wall behind the abandoned house.
Bravil: In the garden area immediately outside the castle in the NW corner.
Bruma: A small snow rock in the castle courtyard area, along the wall south of the gateway arch.
Cheydinhal: In the castle area between the well and the guard barracks tower, along the wall.
Chorrol: On the back side of the castle, directly south of the guard tower.
Leyawiin: Southeast corner of the castle area.
Leyawiin Reborn: In the castle area, along the wall near the guard barracks. *
Skingrad: Near the horse statue on the north side, between the red tree and the archery targets.
SKingrad Castle Courtyard: Tucked against the wall immediately to the right as you come through the gate.
New Sheoth - Bliss: Small rock cluster next to the entry to Sheogorath's Palace, right in front of the barrel.
New Sheoth - Crucible: At the bottom of the stairs to the palace, on the ledge next to the sewer grate.
Bartholm: Along the south city wall, directly behind Rufus' house.
Arcane University: On the west side, along the wall, right across from the well.
Prison District: Also on the west side, next to the wall, to the left of the practice target.
*: Leyawiin Reborn presents a bit of a problem. Using that AI door will put you into the right worldspace but it will be immediately obvious that the landscape does not work in the area. You may have difficulty finding a target in there.
Credits
Texian & Godhugh for the original groundwork on the Open Cities mods. A hell of a lot of work went into that and I've only built upon it.
Wormheart for the working city gate resources.
Sjors Boomscors for providing optimized and corrected meshes for the Outer Districts module.
Ryan for allowing me to produce an Open Cities extension for his Blood&Mud mod.
jfunderb for allowing me to incorporate the Anvil Bay Expansion into Open Cities.
Fearrabbit for providing the retexture and LOD for the new lighthouse in Leyawiin Reborn.
Vorians and Ismelda for being cooperative on sharing compatibility tricks we can both use in each other's mods.
Wrinklyninja for providing a working OMOD script which I can then modify as needed.
Open Cities users everywhere, for being patient enough to put up with my bumbling efforts to get things right. Maybe one day I finally will
